SEAL helps on 'Medal of Honor'

The Navy SEAL who outraged Pentagon brass by writing a tell-all about his role in the Osama bin Laden slaying also used his insider knowledge of several military operations to help with the forthcoming video game “Medal of Honor Warfighter.”

Author Matt Bissonnette, whose pen name for the best-seller “No Easy Day” is Mark Owen, is one of two dozen retired and active-duty military officers who provided technical advice, voice-overs, script assistance and other input in the next iteration of “Medal of Honor.”

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None of it was vetted by the Pentagon, a clear no-no for active-duty personnel but the propriety of which is less clear for retired service members.

“Certainly, disclosing classified information is illegal regardless of service status, but I don't know if any classified tactics, techniques or procedures were disclosed because I haven't seen the video game,” said Lt. Col. James Gregory, a Defense Department spokesman, in response to a reporter’s question. “The bottom line is that active duty personnel are not authorized to support development of a video game or media production without approval from the DoD Media Entertainment Office, and no official request has been made in this case.”

The new game from Electronic Arts, to be released Oct. 23, allows players to virtually participate in realistic animations of several high-stakes special operations conducted by the U.S. military in recent years. Contributions from “Navy SEAL Team 6 Operators who have participated in several high profile missions over the last decade” are heavily touted in trailers and promotional material for the game.

Bissonnette's connection to the video game was first reported in the Los Angeles Times. In addition to Bissonnette, Electronic Arts spokesman Jeff Brown confirmed the names of three other former Navy SEALs who assisted: Tyler Grey, Nate Brown and Kevin Vance.

Only Brown was available for comment.

“Since the inception of the project, I have been out of the military therefore I had no direct chain of command to pass anything through,” he wrote in an email. “Prior to my involvement with ‘Medal of Honor Warfighter,’ I had passed notification of my involvement to what was my current employer.”

The Pentagon’s nondisclosure policy would appear to prohibit anyone, current or retired, from ever disclosing details of top-secret missions.

The Pentagon policy reads: "I understand and agree that my obligation to submit such preparations for review applies during the course of my access to [Sensitive Compartmented Information] and thereafter, and I agree to make any required submissions prior to discussing the preparation with, or showing it to, anyone who is not authorized to have access to SCI. I further agree that I will not disclose the contents of such preparation to any person not authorized to have access to SCI until I have received written authorization from the department or agency that last authorized my access to SCI that such disclosure is permitted."

Bissonnette has been in hot water for the book, which drew a rebuke on Tuesday from Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Panetta told CBS News, “I think when somebody talks about the particulars of how those operations are conducted, it tells our enemies, essentially, how we operate and what we do to go after them.”

The “Medal of Honor” games typically sell more than 6 million copies and cost more than $60 million to produce, making it a far more lucrative and widely consumed entertainment than a book and even many major Hollywood films.

Yet the Pentagon, many observers believe, doesn’t realize the medium ought to be treated with the same circumspection.